


Spike Wins the Soul in Kitten Poker: the fridge poem

by thenewbuzwuzz



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Community: seasonal_spuffy, Crack, Episode: s6e05 Life Serial, F/M, Poetry, Poker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28359447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenewbuzwuzz/pseuds/thenewbuzwuzz
Summary: Lloyd comes to poker night in "Life Serial".
Relationships: Spike/Buffy Summers
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Spike Wins the Soul in Kitten Poker: the fridge poem

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maryperk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maryperk/gifts).



> Originally posted on Seasonal Spuffy, Fall 2020.
> 
> Major props to maryperk for the irresistible [prompt](https://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/702300.html?thread=15399516#t15399516) and to thewiggins for betaing this thing into the night and gifting me with a stack of thoughtful comments taller than the poem. Well, I say poem. This feels only borderline poem-y to me, but the poetry magnets made writing simpler in some ways, and I wasn't going to do _sentences_.
> 
>   
> 
> 
>   
> **Poker Notes** :  
> I did some Poker Research for this and decided Spike and Lloyd were going to play Texas hold'em poker. It's not what the demons play in Life Serial, but it's a variant suitable for two players. As Wikipedia puts it,  
> "Each player seeks the best five card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards; the five community cards and their two hole cards.... If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show their hole cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, each player plays the best poker hand they can make from the seven cards comprising their two hole cards and the five community cards."
> 
> Not that you'd notice from the text, but I headcanon that Lloyd brought his own weird card deck, so instead of normal-looking playing cards Spike got one card that was just an image of himself in his William days and another card that he thought was probably an ace of hearts. And that's when things went south.

**Spike Wins the Soul in Kitten Poker**

mysterious guest on game night  
a burly shadow with fire eyes,  
an appetite  
not for cash or pets  
but for souls  
  
Spike's lady  
breaks out a funny pout  
says, play against lurky  
  
he'd give her the sun moon and bloody stars  
and lurky looks gullible  
it is on  
  
stakes arranged  
shadow wanker tears a doorway to the beyond  
puts down a soul  
a hypnotic sparkle feather  
heart of the boy this vampire was  
against a chance to eat his vampire essence  
  
not scared  
bring it  
  
bluffing  
to appear  
powerful  
dangerous  
a casual bloodthirsty beast  
a damned jerk and a predator too  
hide allegiance  
hide tells of weak human love  
  
fiend presses on  
it's finished  
ugly will see his secret  
stupid soft self  
then dust  
  
he won't surrender  
fangs up  
bite fast  
but in half the time  
that dipshit has cast  
mojo takes hold  
  
he did what Buffy wanted  
will little bit be cross?  
  
bright spell light singes  
diamond fire grows  
into icy hot fireworks of becoming  
guess he beat the other  
  
she'll see a change  
demon will return to him what once was  
make him a man who  
whom she could desire

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a [blurry photo](https://i.imgur.com/73U5YDn.jpg) of the words on my fridge.
> 
> I used the Starter Pack and the Vampires Pack of poetry magnets from Geek Gift Shoppe, which was a gift from OffYourBird once upon a time. <3 And I made the banner using photos by flickr users Gimli62, julochka, and Kenn Wilson, some screencaps from kissthemgoodbye.net, and other screencaps I created myself.
> 
> Thanks for reading! :) Let's talk about the eerie resemblance between poker and Spike's weird misleading posturing during his soul trials leading up to "Grave"! \o/ Also, I expect this to be moderately confusing, so if anything is VERY confusing, feel free to let me know!


End file.
